The NZ Transport Agency will trial two different warning signs that alert drivers before they enter high-risk zones where safe speed cameras are operating. The trial will start in December at eight sites around Auckland and will test whether the signs are effective at encouraging drivers to stay within the speed limit.

“These warning signs are about giving people a fair chance to slow down on high-risk roads and avoid a ticket. Ultimately, we’d like to see more people slowing down and fewer tickets issued,” says Acting Associate Transport Minister James Shaw.

A separate trial of average speed cameras is planned to get underway in 2019 in the Waterview Tunnel and on the Southern Motorway between the SH20/SH1 connection (at Manukau) and Papakura.

Mr Nash says the cameras measure a vehicle's average speed between two points and will provide an incentive to drivers to travel at safe speeds. “The intention is to stop people who are unnecessarily putting other people at risk by driving at an unsafe speed over a sustained distance,” he says.

“Overseas evidence has shown that average speed cameras are highly effective at reducing speeds, and generally result in fewer tickets being issued compared with single location speed cameras.”

Both ministers assure the public they will not be ticketed for exceeding the speed limit for just a few seconds. “Tickets are only issued to drivers if their average speed, over the entire distance between the two cameras, exceeds the legal limit,” says Mr Nash.

“The average speed cameras will be trialled in locations where the consequences of a high speed crash could be deadly,” says Mr Shaw.

Examples include the constrained environment of the Waterview Tunnel where a crash at high speed would be potentially catastrophic, as would a crash on the Southern Motorway at the 80 km/h worksite where speeding drivers are currently putting road workers doing their jobs at risk.

“Drivers will have plenty of warning about the location of the average speed cameras and signs will alert drivers when they enter the average speed enforcement area,” says Mr Nash. “This will give people plenty of opportunity to slow down to a safe speed within the limit and help keep all road users safe.”